The built environment accounts for 39 per cent of annual carbon emissions worldwide. In order to reach net zero, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that direct building CO2 emissions need to fall 50 per cent by 2030. There are a lot of incentives aimed at making the real estate market more sustainable. Decreasing buildings’ carbon footprint is maybe the way to start. This must be addressed both in terms of embodied carbon and operational carbon. While the first refers to greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing and transportation of building materials, the latter refers to greenhouse gas emissions due to building energy consumption. This needs to be taken into consideration in building construction, even considering what are the right materials to use in each situation. Steffen Walvius, head of sustainability services for Central and Eastern Europe at JLL, speaks with Andrew Wrobel about how much time and effort it will take to decarbonise the built environment globally and what specifically needs to be done to address the issue. They also speak about environmental, social, governance (ESG) and sustainability in the emerging Europe region.